second_chance_stellaris_lpfandomcom-20200213-history
The Alma Clavis
"The galaxy our soul, our library its key" The Great Thadrakon Library Ordained with ornate statues of gold and fashioned from the finest stones, The Alma Clavis is located on Suthar-Rakos, the capital planet and home-world of the Thadrakos, on an isle between the lands of the five families; the library is a highly prestigious building and a great source of pride for the Thadrakos, it contains many thousands of art pieces, books, sculptures and exotic animals. Libraries generally serve a different purpose in the Thadrakos realms, they are not just places to store books as many Thadrakos own their own collections, rather they are places to preserve and display the most beautiful pieces of art they produce or find. In 2215 construction began on the grand library, a building for all Thadrakos to house their works on display for all to see, it is to date still being expanded as the Thadrakos make more and more room to house their collections. This Library does contain the more common collections as well, such as standard books made across the galaxy but the Library takes more interest in one of a kind book collections; scholars will gladly purchase exotic or unreproducible items, even items not especially appeasing to look at (these are simply placed in vaults). Overall the Library creates a small fortune of wealth for the families and the estate owners, the Elafir's, but the wealth produced is a secondary benefit rather than its purpose. Wealth is made from hosting events and visitor fees, but also from the production of rare crops and retail of bred animals. Inside the Alma Clavis (Also referred to as a Great Library) The Alma Clavis is an ever expanding assortment of exhibits, zoos, hallways & lobbies; much of the library is located deep underground and the grandest of rooms reach heights over 150 metres, to find any one specific item you could spend a day simply locating it. To accommodate the visitors the entrance became a grand lobby that would direct patrons and visitors to the desired location, there are two main differences in room categories. Exhibits or Libraries; these have there own sub categories. There are also special rooms such as the 'Inner City'. Which serve as both another sight to see and as homes for the many workers within the Great Library. Libraries Vast and unending, the library rooms are as decadent as they are complex, inbuilt mechanical instruments softly strum tunes that faintly reverberate across the entire room as the architecture's design carries the sound; the shelves packed (but not crammed) with books of every kind, be they Thadrakos tales & stories or a memoir of a Yaanari corsair. The library does not racially discriminate between what works they allow in but they will only accept work up to their own standards; the Thadrakos people generally produce nothing but art though and so most of what is seen is from a Thadrakos. The many rooms are cared for by special slaves, their sole tasking being to keep the rooms pristine and the books preserved; these slaves are identifiable by a special glowing mark, for humanoids it is seen around the wrist but for non humanoids it is placed in perhaps several places. Unique Books Some books are much more uncommon than others, the Thadrakos tend to limit the production of any personal books to just a few thousand (this makes them rarer and highly valuable if they're any good); these books are often found on the shelves of the great library, for example, the Keeper of the library has created several of her own books solely for the library. Some are books that have been laced with psionic energy, books like this cannot be mass produced in a printing press and must be written individually; the psionic energy makes the reader 'feel' the tone and emotion described, an enhancer in a way. These books are especially rare as few with psionic powers devote much time to writing let alone making it a sole profession. The Forbidden One of the less well-known purposes of the great library is that is keeps items deemed dangerous or powerful locked away, tucked away behind hidden passages, trap laden corridors and fortified doors; what is placed in these vaults can be anything from strange books that incite madness in the reader, ancient technology and forgotten beasts of legend. Only the keeper of the library and her most entrusted retinue have access to these zones and must accompany anyone who seeks these items, at first many though that great treasures of immaculate design were hidden here by the families and some deigned to crack open a vault and look… Ever since that day all the floors between 46 to 73 in segment F7 have been forever placed in ‘quarantine’; these zones had been lost to what was called ‘The Blue Vexus Outbreak’. A detailed report of the events that transpired is available here: The Blue Vexus Outbreak Exhibits Rooms that are primarily filled with spectacle for the eye to behold, whether that be an animal, a statue, painting or other strange fantastica things; these great sights will often have books or scrolls related to the object/s observed if there are any, rooms are often filled with exhibits of various sizes but also usually of the same types. For example; an exhibit featuring an exotic animal would usually not also contain statues or paintings unless they were paintings / statues of the animal. Animals In a galaxy brimming with diversity of life there is bound to be specimens that catch the eye, the most magnificent beast or beautiful animals across the galaxy are often sought by hunters or warriors; by 2290 many non-sentient species, outside of the more civilised and rational nations, were reaching critically endangered levels. This was a downright atrocity to the Thadrakos, not the threat of extinction, but the fact that many of the worlds most extraordinary specimens were being erased for short term goals... they were not exactly opposed to the use of animals but considered it a travesty to extinguish entire life. So the Great Library has also come to create many enclosures for the rarer and more unique animals, both to preserve them and breed them. Among the creatures within the Great Library are: * A pair of Strixes * A pack of Ayalubu * A pair of Ancalagon (Hopes to breed them have been troublesome but a pair of eggs is expected) * Minervan Spiders * Bubonias * Monarch Eagles Galleries When it comes to painting, the Thadrakos make thousands of them, a single Thadrakos who spend its entire life painting can make anywhere between 4500-8000 immaculate paintings within 100 years; the exhibits are thus chocked with displays of paintings, some rooms are filled with paintings all from the same artist whilst others are filled with other xeno art. The obsession of art hoarding has become an ecstatic passion of the Thadrakos and the Great Library has also taken to filling hallway walls with the art; every year the slave caretakers must go through the rooms and count the ever growing numbers... but now it is only done every decade as it has occasionally taken more than a year to do so. Sculptures Some rooms contain massive statues or obelisks that have been recovered or hand crafted, others contain wonderous instruments or artefacts. Many balls, banquets, meetings and classes take place within eyesight of these spectacles; such is the decadence of the Thadrakos and there ways of life, much of the costs to build these grand items has been carried by the slaves of the Thadrakos. More information on Thadrakos society: Thadrakos: Biology & Culture Some sculptures are not made but grown... rare trees and crops that look appealing to the eye can litter the Great Library, some rooms are full of them whilst other rooms devoted to other things may contain just one. For example to the left is a tree found floating in the voids of space, after retrieving it the tree was planted inside the Great Library; although it is not the most vibrant tree it has a unique sap that the Thadrakos find extremely invigorating and tasteful, all attempts to obtain a sapling have failed though and how this tree reproduces is unknown. The Inner City The Library has become too large for it to simply be a workplace, getting from one end to the other could take hours even by train; to keep the entrance manageable and workers invested in them, the Great Library built its own small towns within mega rooms. Bringing back some knowledge learned from simply observing Commonwealth habitats, the Thadrakos did their best to replicate what they could see (Sharing of Advanced State Technology had been outlawed in the Commonwealth). The inner city is a semi self sufficient town, the majority of its inhabitants are workers or the special Caretaker Slaves; small farms feed the inhabitants, water is semi-recyclable but fresh water is still pumped in, air is also produced here but must still be pumped in. From here workers are ferried across the Great Library to perform their duty wherever they're needed. The listed inhabitants doesn't include visitors but there are spaces for around 20,000 maximum, to accommodate them many restaurants and entertainment buildings have also sprung up in the city. Source of profit This Great Library has been ludicrously expensive to construct and is still being expanded, for this building to stay open it must rake in profit from something... General Public Profit Entrance Fee A simple one; visitors pay for a slot of time they wish to stay for, be that an hour, a day or a few months. Transportation Getting to the place you want to be is both complex and time consuming; to speed things along tour guides can take groups or individuals to the place they want to be, with access to fast track elevators and small transports. Toll Routes Faster routes such as shortcuts or actual train routes charge any who use them Food Food is accessible in the Great Library and holds the same quality of usual meals, it's not even more expensive than food outside. Due to the large numbers of visitors though it still makes a tidy profit, especially when some people come there just to eat in the presence of art. Submission costs Unless it is someone of great renown, those hoping to place their work must pay for its place; it is a one time fee for each single item. Book Lending To take a book off a shelf a person must insert a small token of money into a slot, if the book is not what they were looking for they may put it back within 5 minutes and retrieve the token, the library takes very little of the money made this way; the money mostly goes to the author of the book taken off the shelves. The book may be held by the person who paid for it, the book does not have to be returned until the person holding it leaves the Grad Library, all books to be returned are simply given to a Slave Caretaker who will ether take it back personally or place it in a sorting zone for others. Main Profits The main source of income really comes from more grand things. Events The Thadrakos citizenry is vastly different to typical human society, in the relevant case, there is no such thing as a lower class, and barely a notion of middle to the Thadrakos; they are all generally very wealthy (their money and wealth comes off of backbreaking slave labour, these slaves are counted as citizens though and thus no lower class exists). These rich citizens fulfil their days entertaining themselves mostly and hosting all manner of things, the Great Library is a good place to do something. Balls, Banquets, Birthdays, Festivities The Great Library opens its rooms and halls to all who wish to hold a celebration or party for their fellow kin, anyone wishing to hold an event need simply make a reservation; guides will even show them around to recommend good rooms for them to hold the event in. Outside Revenue Around the Great Library many small businesses have set up to provide for the many tourists. As the attractor, the Great Library takes a portion of all the profits. The Keeper The 'Keeper' of the Great Library was brainbox of the initial construction and through her works she made the opulent building what it is today, she was the first to begin amalgamating all the forgotten records and rare pieces of ancient tech and it was her own initial works that she used to advertise the Great Library in its baby steps. For reasons explained in another article, the Keeper held a small place in the hearts of the great families and was able to influence them to equally fund the construction; now she continues to add her own historical writings and occasional painting to her own rooms, built exclusively for her own works. To ensure all her works are equally unique and grand she spends most of time now outside the library and the Thadrakos realms, where she can seek out the greatest natural sights for inspiration or other rare artefacts. By bringing in a wider variance of art and crafts she herself makes the library a large sum of money, coincidentally the Great Library is built on her own estate and is technically her home and thus the profits of the entire building is hers... though The Five Families also each get a portion of the profits Rebellion! In late December of 2322 the growing rebel movement rose up on the capital planet, as rebel slaves and sympathisers rose up across the planet the authorities failed at every turn to stop them; amidst the rebellion was one building of particular notice to the rebels, The Alma Clavis. A symbol of wealth, decadence, power and regalia made manifest. The Suthar-Rakos Uprising was completely unexpected by the loyalists and the sudden almost overnight change of power saw leading figures fall to the slaves, outnumbered and outgunned by their own slaves, the nobles that lived long enough to flee did so to the Alma Clavis; the great building ran largely independently and no slaves within the building knew of the rebellion - the rebel movement did not risk tying to recruit slaves from the building, the security scrutinised all messages and had a heavy psionic guard presence, any rebel intentions would have been discovered - so the building itself did not immediately fall. Once the initial chaos quelled and the rebels had some semblance of organisation they made for the great building, they expected to meet a defending garrison that would quickly fall to them, instead they found the doors open and unguarded; the security details had figured that defending the building from a planet wide rebellion would be a loss, so instead they retreated deep into the library and with the assitance of Kali Elafir's younger brother they accessed of the forbidden vaults that was secretly a hidden safe room. This vault was really more like a small habitat, just as large as 'The Inner City', here many guards and nobles hid themselves, hoping one day for the all clear to return to the outside world. Kaeda ,the younger brother of Kali, did not enter this vault himself, instead mounting a small defence with some guards, an illusion to make it seem that this was all they had to offer; the defence was over swiftly and Kaeda was arrested, as the rebels entered the inner city the nobles of the city pleaded with them to spare the library in exchange for the release of every slave within it. The leading figurehead of this rebel incursion was infact a turncoat noble who still possessed a cultured and noble mindset, this deal would could excuse him from destroying the Alma Clavis and brand him a hero for saving the slaves without losing any of his own. Still many of the rebel sacked and destroyed parts of the libraries and galleries, the leading rebel could not contain the looters given the massive expanse of the building; the looting went on for weeks and non could stop them, the looting only ended when the rebels opened an enclosure to the Ancalagon, the animals had recently birthed children and were fiercely territorial. With no carers the animals tore apart the unrecognised looters, now the new official government managed to keep the rest of the looters out... and also fed many former loyalist nobles to the Ancalagon to keep them fed.